Programmable light beam shape altering device using separate programmable micromirrors for each primary color

ABSTRACT

Three-digital micromirror devices (“DMD”) are used to alter the shape of light that is projected onto a stage. The DMDs each receive a primary color and selectively reflects some light of that color, thereby shaping the light that is projected onto the stage. The control for the alteration is controlled by an image. That image can be processed, thereby carrying out image processing effects on the shape of the light that is displayed. One preferred application follow the shape of the performer and illuminates the performer using a shape that adaptively follows the performer&#39;s image. This results in a shadowless follow spot.

This is a continuation application of Ser. No. 09/792,729 filed Feb. 22,2001, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/448,324,filed Nov. 23, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,542 issued Aug. 21, 2001,which claims priority from provisional application No. 60/109,576, filedNov. 23, 1998.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a programmable light beam shapingdevice. More specifically, the present invention teaches a controlsystem and three micromirror devices which can alter the shape and colorof light beams passing therethrough, and also provide various effects tothose shaped light beams using image processing circuitry that isprovided in the remote luminaire.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known in the art to shape a light beam. This has typically beendone using an element known as a gobo. A gobo element is usuallyembodied as either a shutter or an etched mask. The gobo shapes thelight beam like a stencil in the projected light.

Analog gobos are simple on/off devices: they allow part of the lightbeam to pass, and block other parts to prevent those other parts frompassing. Hence mechanical gobos are very simple devices. Modernlaser-etched gobos go a step further by providing a gray scale effect.

Typically multiple different gobo shapes are obtained by placing thegobos are placed into a cassette or the like which is rotated to selectbetween the different gobos. The gobos themselves can also be rotatedwithin the cassette, using the techniques, for example, described inU.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,332 and 4,891,738.

All of these techniques have the drawback that only a limited number ofgobo shapes can be provided. These gobo shapes must be defined inadvance. There is no capability to provide any kind of gray scale in thesystem. The resolution of the system is also limited by the resolutionof the machining. This system allows no way to switch gradually betweendifferent gobo shapes. In addition, moving between one gobo and anotheris limited by the maximum possible mechanical motion speed of thegobo-moving element.

Various patents and literature have suggested using a liquid crystal asa gobo. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,121 describes such a liquidcrystal device. Our own pending patent application also so suggests.However, no practical liquid crystal element of this type has ever beendeveloped. The extremely high temperatures caused by blocking some ofthis high intensity beam produce enormous amounts of heat. Theprojection gate sometimes must block beams with intensities in excess of10,000 lumens and sometimes as high as 2000 watts. The above-discussedpatent applications discuss various techniques of heat handling.However, because the light energy is passed through a liquid crystalarray, some of the energy must inevitably be stored by the liquidcrystal. Liquid crystal is not inherently capable of storing such heat,and the phases of the liquid crystal, in practice, may be destabilizedby such heat. The amount of cooling required, therefore, has made thisan impractical task. Research continues on how to accomplish this taskmore practically.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate this problem byproviding a digital light beam shape altering device, e.g. a gobo, whichoperates completely differently than any previous device. Specifically,this device embodies the inventor's understanding that many of the heatproblems in such a system are obviated if the light beam shape alteringdevice would selectively deflect, instead of blocking, the undesiredlight.

The preferred mode of the present invention uses a digitally-controlledmicromirror semiconductor device. However, any selectively-controllablemultiple-reflecting element could be used for this purpose. Thesespecial optics are used to create the desired image using an array ofsmall-sized mirrors which are movably positioned. The micromirrors arearranged in an array that will define the eventual image. The resolutionof the image is limited by the size of the micromirrors: here 17 .mu.mon a side.

The minors are movable between a first position in which the light isdirected onto the field of a projection lens system, or a secondposition in which the light is deflected away from the projection lenssystem. The light deflected away from the lens will appear as a darkpoint in the resulting image on the illuminated object. The heat problemis minimized according to the present invention since the micromirrorsreflect the unwanted light rather than absorbing it. The absorbed heatis caused by the quantum imperfections of the mirror and any gapsbetween the mirrors.

SUMMARY

The disclosed mode uses a light splitting element to split the lightinto its primary colors, preferably red, green, and blue, or cyan,magenta, yellow. Each of the primary colors are coupled to a separatedigital micromirror device. Each device reflects only desired pixels ofthe light representing the primary colors. Hence, this operates to formshaped beams of colored lights in any desired colors, to be projected.The primary colors are then re-combined and projected.

Since there is no separate color altering element in the path of thedevice, the light output from the device can be less attenuated than theprior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects will be readily understood with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a single pixel mirror element of the preferred mode, in itsfirst position;

FIG. 2 shows the mirror element in its second position;

FIG. 3 shows the mirror assembly of the present invention and itsassociated optics;

FIG. 4 shows more detail about the reflection carried out by the DMD ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the control electronics of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of a typical operation of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of operation of edge effects operations;

FIG. 8A shows a flowchart of a first technique of following a performeron stage;

FIG. 8B shows a flowchart of a correlation scheme;

FIG. 8C shows a flowchart of another correlation scheme; and

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the shadowless follow spot embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment herein begins with a brief description ofcontrollable mirror devices, and the way in which thecurrently-manufactured devices operate.

Work on semiconductor-based devices which tune the characteristics oflight passing therethrough has been ongoing since the 1970's. There aretwo kinds of known digital micromirror devices. A first type wasoriginally called the formal membrane display. This first type used asilicon membrane that was covered with a metalized polymer membrane. Themetalized polymer membrane operated as a mirror.

A capacitor or other element was located below the metalized element.When the capacitor was energized, it attracted the polymer membrane andchanged the direction of the resulting reflection.

More modern elements, however, use an electrostatically deflected mirrorwhich changes in position in a different way. The mirror of the presentinvention, developed and available from Texas Instruments, Inc. uses analuminum mirror which is sputter-deposited directly onto a wafer.

The individual mirrors are shown in FIG. 1. Each individual minorincludes a square mirror plate 100 formed of reflective aluminumcantilevered on hollow aluminum post 102 on flexible aluminum beams.Each of these mirrors 100 have two stop positions: a landing electrode,which allows them to arrive into a first position shown in FIG. 2, andanother electrode against which the mirror rests when in itsnon-deflected position. These mirrors are digital devices in the sensethat there two “allowable” positions are either in a first positionwhich reflects light to the lens and hence to the illuminated object,and a second position where the light is reflected to a scatteredposition. Light scattering (i.e. selective light reflection) of thistype could also be done with other means, i.e. selectively polarizablepolymers, electronically-controlled holograms, light valves, or anyother means.

The operation of the dark field projection optics which is usedaccording to the preferred micromirror device is shown in FIG. 3. Thetwo bi-stable positions of the preferred devices are preferably plus orminus 10% from the horizontal.

The light is produced by a lamp 300, with a reflector 302. Light iscoupled through a heat rejection device, e.g., a cold mirror 303 whichrejects at least some of the heat. The heat rejection device could belocated in other areas, e.g. after the optical components describedbelow.

That light is input to a color splitting device 310 which splits thecolor into its three primary colors, e.g., red, green, and blue. Colorsplitting device 310 is shown as a prism, although other color splittingdevices could be used. Each primary color is detracted in a differentdirection, and each primary color is respectively input to its own DMDdevice 320, 321, and 319. Each DMD device operates to either tilt thelight in the desired direction shown as 325 or in the undesireddirection shown 335. The desired direction tilts the light 325 towards acombining device 329. The combining device 329 combines the imagesproduced by the three DMDs, 319, 320, 321 into a single beam of light327 which is input to a field lens 330, 332.

Light source 310 used according to the present invention is preferably ahigh intensity light source such as a xenon or metal halide bulb ofbetween 600 and 1000 watts. The bulb is preferably surrounded by areflector of the parabolic or ellipsoidal type which directs the outputfrom bulb 300 along a first optical incidence path 305.

However, the lighting system 310 can actually have less power than inprevious systems, since no separate color changing device needs to beused, and each pass through a color changing device reduces theintensity of the light.

The light intensity may also be controlled using any kind of associateddimmer; either electronic, mechanical or electromechanical means. Morepreferably, the DMD 320 could be used to control beam intensity asdescribed herein.

The light beam projected 310 along path 305 is incident to the digitallight altering device embodied as DMD 320, at point 322. The DMD allowsoperations between two different states. When the mirror in the DMD ispointed to the right, the right beam is reflected along path 325 toprojection/zoom lens combination 330, 332. The zoom lens combination330, 332 is used to project the image from the DMD 320 onto the objectof illumination, preferably a stage. The size and sharpness quality ofthe image can therefore be adjusted by repositioning of the lens. Whenthe mirror is tilted to the right, the light beam is projected along thelight path 335, away from projection lens 330/332. The pixels which havelight beams projected away from the lens appear as dark points in theresulting image. The dark spots are not displayed on the stage.

This DMD system reflects information from all pixels. Hence, minimalenergy is absorbed in the DMD itself or any of the other optics. Thedevice still may get hot, however not nearly as hot as the liquidcrystal gobos. Cooling 325 is still necessary. The DMDs can be cooledusing any of the techniques described in our copending applications, orby a heat sink and convection, or by blowing cold air from arefrigeration unit across the device. More preferably, a hot or coolmirror can be used in the path of the light beam to reflect infrared outof the light beam to minimize the transmitted heat. FIG. 3 shows hotmirror 330 reflecting infra red 332 to heat sink 334. A cold mirrorcould be used with a folded optical path. Each of the other DMDs 319,321, operates in a similar way.

This basic system allows selecting a particular aperture shape withwhich to which pass the light. That shape is then defined in terms ofpixels, and these pixels are mapped to DMD 320. The DMD selectivelyreflects light of the properly-shaped aperture onto the stage. The restof the light is reflected away.

The micromirror can be switched between its positions in approximately10 μs. A normal time for frame refresh rate, which takes into accounthuman persistence of vision, is 1/60th of a second or 60 hertz. Variouseffects can be carried out by modulating the intensity of each mirrorpixel within that time frame.

The monolithic integration which is being formed by Texas Instrumentsincludes associated row and column decoders thereon. Accordingly, thesystem of the present invention need not include those as part of itscontrol system.

Detailed operation of DMDs 319, 321 is shown in FIG. 4. The source beamis input to the position 322 which transmits the information eithertowards the stage along path 325 or away from the stage along path 335.

The various effects which are usable according to the present inventioninclude automatic intensity dimming, use of a “shadowless follow spot”,hard or soft beam edges, shutter cut simulation, gobo cross fading, gobospecial effects, stroboscopic effects, color gobos, rotating gobosincluding absolute position and velocity control, and other such effectsand combinations thereof. All of these effects can be controlled bysoftware running on the processor device. Importantly, thecharacteristics of the projected beam (gobo shape, color etc) can becontrolled by software. This enables any software effect which could bedone to any image of any image format to be done to the light beam. Thesoftware that is used is preferably image processing software such asAdobe photoshop.sup..™., Kai's power tools.sup..™., Adobe Streamline, orthe like which are used to manipulate images. Any kind of imagemanipulation can be mapped to the screen. Each incremental changes tothe image can be mapped to the screen as it occurs.

Another important feature of the gobo is its ability to projectunconnected shapes that cannot be formed by a stencil. An example is twoconcentric circles. A concentric circle gobo needs physical connectionbetween the circles. Other unconnected shapes which are capable ofrendering as an image can also be displayed.

The effects carried out by the software are grouped into three differentcategories: an edge effects processing; an image shape processing; and aduty cycle processing.

The overall control system is shown in block diagram form in FIG. 5.Microprocessor 500 operates based on a program which executes, interalia, the flowchart of FIG. 6. The light shape altering operatesaccording to a stencil outline. This stencil outline can be any image orimage portion. An image from image source 552 is input to a formatconverter 552 which converts the image from its native form into digitalimage that is compatible with storage on a computer. The preferreddigital image formats include a bitmap format or compressed bitmap formsuch as the GIF, JPEG, PCX format (1 bit per pixel) file, a “BMP” file(8 bits/pixel B/W or 24 bits/pixel color) or a geometric description(vectorized image). Moving images could also be sent in any animationformat such as MPEG or the like. It should be understood that any imagerepresentation format could be used to represent the image, and that anyof these representations can be used to create information that canmodify reflecting positions of the array of reflecting devices. Thepresent specification uses the term “digital representation” togenerically refer to any of these formats that can be used to representan image, and are manipulable by computers.

In this mode, the saved signal can be a control signal indicative ofshape and color, e.g. one that defines both chrominance and luminance.That same signal can be applied to all the DMDs, and each responds toits own color portion. Another way produces separate signals for each ofthe primary colors, and applies those signals to the DMDs.

Image 554 is input into a working memory 556. BMP format represents each“pixel” picture element of the image by a number of bits. A typical grayscale bit map image has 8 bits representing each pixel. A colored imageof this type has 8 bits representing each of red, green, and bluerepresentations. This color representation is called a 24-bitrepresentation, since 24-bits are necessary for each pixel. Thedescription herein will be given with reference to gray scale imagesalthough it should be understood that this system can also be used withcolor images by forming more detailed maps of the information. Bit mapsare easiest to process, but extremely wasteful of storage space.

Each memory area, representing each pixel, therefore, has 8 bitstherein. The memory 556 is 576×768 area, corresponding to the number ofmirror elements in the preferred use.

This image is defined as image No. x, and can be stored in non-volatilememory 520 (e.g., flash RAM or hard disk) for later recall therefrom. Animportant feature of the present invention is that the images are storedelectronically, and hence these images can also be electronicallyprocessed in real time using image processing software. Since thepreferred mode of the present invention manipulates the imageinformation in bitmap form, this image processing can be carried out ina very quick succession.

The image to be projected is sent, by processor 500, over channel 560,to VRAM 570. Line driver 562 and line receiver 564 buffer the signal atboth ends. The channel can be a local bus inside the lamp unit, or canbe a transmission line, such as a serial bus. The image information canbe sent in any of the forms described above.

Standard and commonly available image processing software is availableto carry out many functions described herein. These include for example,morphing, rotating, scaling, edge blurring, and other operations thatare described herein. Commercial image processing can use “Kai's PowerTools”, “CorelDraw!”, or “Morph Studio” for example. These functions areshown with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6.

Step 600 represents the system determining the kind of operation whichhas been requested: between edge processing, image processing, and dutycycle processing. The image processing operations will be defined first.Briefly stated, the image processing operations include rotation of theimage, image morphing from image 1 to image 2, dynamic control of imageshape and special effects. Each of these processing elements can selectthe speed of the processing to effectively time-slice the image. Themorphing of the present invention preferably synchronizes keyframes ofthe morph with desired time slices.

Step 602 defines the operation. As described above, this operation caninclude rotation, position shift, and the like. Step 604 defines thetime or velocity of operation. This time can be ending time for all orpart of the movement, or velocity of the movement. Note that all of theeffects carried out in step 602 require moving some part of the imagefrom one position to another.

Step 606 determine the interval of slicing, depending on the velocity.It is desirable to slice an appropriate amount such that the user doesnot see jerky motion. Ideally, in fact, we could slice movement of theimage one pixel at a time, but this is probably unnecessary for mostapplications. One hundred pixel slicing is probably sufficient for allapplications. The pixel slices are selected at step 606.

Step 608 calculates using the time or velocity entered at step 604 todetermine the necessary time for operation based on the amount ofposition shift for rotation over 100 pixel slices. This is done asfollows. Position shift, rotate, and sprite animation are all simplemovements. In both, the points of the image which define the gobo shapemove over time. It is important, therefore, to decide how much movementthere is and how much time that movement will take. A rate of change ofpoints or velocity is then calculated. Of course velocity need not becalculated if it has already been entered at step 604.

Having velocity of movement and pixels per second, the time betweenslices is calculated using 100 pixels per slice divided by the velocityin pixels per second. The direction of movement is defined by thisoperation.

Therefore, the red, green, and blue components of the image arerecalculated at step 610 for each time interval. These new image becomesthe new gobo stencil and colors at the new location. That is to say, theoutline of the image is preferably used as the gobo light within theimage is passed in the desired color, and light outside the image isblocked. At any particular time, the image in the VRAM 570 is used asthe gobo stencil to project a new image at step 612.

A pixel value of 1 indicates that light at the position of the pixelwill be shown on the stage. A pixel value of zero indicates that lightat the position of the pixel will not be shown on the stage. Any grayscale value means that only part of the intensity pixel will be shown(for only part of the time of the 1/60th of a second time slice). Hence,each element in the memory is applied to one pixel of the DMD, e.g. oneor many micromirrors, to display that one pixel on the stage.

When edge processing is selected at step 600, control passes to theflowchart of FIG. 7. The edge graying can be selected as either agradual edge graying or a more abrupt edge graying. This includes onearea of total light, one area of only partial light, and one area of nolight. The intensity of the gray scaled outline is continuously gradedfrom full image transmission to no image transmission. The intensityvariation is effected by adjusting the duty cycle of the on and offtimes.

Step 700 obtains the image and defines its outlines. This is carried outaccording to the present invention by determining the boundary pointbetween light transmitting portions (1's) and light blocking portions(0's). The outline is stretched in all directions at step 702 to form alarger but concentric image—a stretched image.

The area between the original image and the stretched image is filledwith desired gray scale information. Step 704 carries this out for allpoints which are between the outline and the stretch image.

This new image is sent to memory 570 at step 706. As described above,the image in the memory is always used to project the image-shapedinformation. This uses standard display technology whereby the displaysystem is continually updated using data stored in the memory.

The duty cycle processing in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is used to formstrobe effects and/or to adjust intensity. In both cases, the image isstored in memory and removed from memory at periodic intervals. Thisoperation prevents any light from being projected toward the stage atthose intervals, and is hence referred to as masking. When the image ismasked, all values in the memory become zero, and hence this projectsall black toward the source. This is done for a time which is shorterthan persistence of vision, so the information cannot be perceived bythe human eye. Persistence of vision averages the total light impingingon the scene. The eye hence sees the duty cycle processing as adifferent intensity.

The stroboscopic effect turns on and off the intensity, ranging fromabout 1 Hz to 24 Hz. This produces a strobe effect.

These and other image processing operations can be carried out: (1) ineach projection lamp based on a prestored or downloaded command; (2) ina main processing console; or (3) in both.

Another important aspect of the invention is based on the inventor'srecognition of a problem that has existed in the art of stage lighting.Specifically, when a performer is on the stage, a spotlight illuminatesthe performer's area. However, the inventor of the present inventionrecognized a problem in doing this. Specifically, since we want to seethe performer, we must illuminate the performer's area. However, when weilluminate outside the performer's area, it casts a shadow on the stagebehind the performer. In many circumstances, this shadow is undesirable.

It is an object of this embodiment to illuminate an area of the stage582 confined to the performer 580, without illuminating any locationoutside of the performer's area. This is accomplished according to thepresent invention by advantageous processing structure which forms a“shadowless follow spot”. This is done using the basic block diagram ofFIG. 9.

The preferred hardware is shown in FIG. 9. Processor 1020 carries outthe operations explained with reference to the following flowchartswhich define different ways of following the performer. In all of theseembodiments, the shape of the performer on the stage is determined. Thiscan be done by (1) determining the performer's shape 584 by some means,e.g. manual, and following that shape; (2) correlating over the imagelooking for a human body shape; (3) infra red detection of theperformer's location followed by expanding that location to the shape ofthe performer; (4) image subtraction; (5) detection of special indiceson the performer, e.g. an ultrasonic beacon, or, any other techniqueeven manual following of the image by, for example, an operatorfollowing the performer's location on a screen using a mouse.

FIG. 8A shows a flowchart of (1) above. At step 8001, the performer islocated within the image. The camera taking the image is preferablylocated at the lamp illuminating the scene in order to avoid parallax.The image can be manually investigated at each lamp or downloaded tosome central processor for this purpose.

Once identified, the borders of the performer are found at 8005. Thoseborders are identified, for example, by abrupt color changes near theidentified point. At step 8010, those changes are used to define a“stencil” outline that is slightly smaller than the performer at 8010.That stencil outline is used as a gobo for the light at 8015.

The performer continues to move, and at 8020 the processor follows thechanging border shape. The changing border shape produces a new outlinewhich is fed to 8010 at which time a new gobo stencil is defined.

Alternative (2) described above is a correlation technique. A flowchartof this operation is shown in FIG. 8B. At step 8101, the camera obtainsan image of the performer, and the performer is identified within thatimage. That image issued as a kernel for further later correlation. Theentire scene is obtained at step 8105. The whole scene is correlatedagainst the kernel at 8110. This uses known image processing techniques.

The above can be improved by (3), wherein infra red detection gives theapproximate area for the performer.

As explained in previous embodiments, the DMD is capable of updating itsposition very often: for example, 10⁶ times a second. This is muchfaster than any real world image can move. Thirty times a second wouldcertainly be sufficient to image the performer's movements. Accordingly,the present invention allows setting the number of frame updates persecond. A frame update time of 30 per second is sufficient for mostapplications. This minimizes the load on the processor, and enables lessexpensive image processing equipment to be used.

FIG. 8C shows the image subtracting technique.

First, we must obtain a zeroing image. Therefore, the first step at step800, is to obtain an image of the stage without the performer(s)thereon. This zero image represents what the stage will look like whenthe performers are not there.

Between processing iterations, the processor can carry out otherhousekeeping tasks or can simply remain idle.

Step 802 represents the beginning of a frame update. An image isacquired from the video camera 550 at step 804. The image is stillpreferably arranged in units of pixels, with each pixel including avalue of intensity and perhaps red, green, and blue for that pixel.

At step 806 subtracts the current image from the zeroed image. Theperformer image that remains is the image of the performer(s) and othernew elements on the stage only. The computer determines at this timewhich part of that image we want to use to obtain the shadowless followspot. This is done at step 808 by correlating the image that remainsagainst a reference, to determine the proper part of the image to beconverted into a shadowless follow spot. The image of the performer isseparated from other things in the image. Preferably it is known forexample what the performer will wear, or some image of a uniquecharacteristic of the performer has been made. That uniquecharacteristic is correlated against the performer image to determinethe performer only at the output of step 808. This image is digitized atstep 810: that is all parts of this image which are not performer areset to zeros so that light at those positions is reflected. In this way,a gobo-like image is obtained at step 810, that gobo-like image being achanging cutout image of the performer. An optional step 812 furtherprocesses this image to remove artifacts, and preferably to shrink theimage slightly so that it does not come too close to the edge of theperformer's outline. This image is then transferred to the VRAM at step814, at which time it is re-entered into the DMD 1012 to form agobo-like mask for the lamp. This allows the light to be appropriatelyshaped to agree with the outline of the performer 1004.

Another embodiment of the present invention uses the above describedtechniques and basic system of the present invention to provide color tothe lamp gobo. This is done using techniques that were postulated in theearly days of color tv, and which now find a renewed use. This systemallows colored gobos, and more generally, allows—any video image to bedisplayed.

Further details of this system are found in copending application Ser.Nos. 08/854,353, 09/029,224, 09/108,263, and 09/145,314, the disclosuresof which are incorporated by reference.

Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail above,those having ordinary skill in the art will certainly understand thatmany modifications are possible in the preferred embodiment withoutdeparting from the teachings thereof.

All such modifications are intended to be encompassed within thefollowing claims.

For example, any direction deflecting device could be used in place ofthe DMD, e.g., a grating light valve, which still constitute digitallight altering devices.

A custom micro mirror device would be transparent, and have thin mirrorsthat “stowed” at 90.degree. to the light beam to allow the beam to pass,and turned off by moving to a reflecting position to scatter selectpixels of the light beam.

The three color approach could also be carried out by using threeprimary light sources, one for each color, instead of splitting thelight from a single source.

1. A lighting system comprising: a computer based processor, receivinginformation indicative of a gobo that is changing over time; saidprocessor determining a velocity of movement of said gobo and definingdurations of time, based on said velocity, at which different goboimages are to be displayed representing the change of the gobo overtime, said processor changing a shape of the gobo being displayed basedon said gobo images between a first gobo image at a first time and asecond gobo image at a second time and providing an output signalrepresenting a shape and color for the gobo at said first and secondtime; a lighting part, receiving said first and second gobo images, anddisplaying said first gobo image of said first time and displaying saidsecond gobo image at said second time, said lighting part having amaximum speed at which it can change said image between a first and asecond image; said processor determining an amount of time for the goboto move between said images, said durations of time being long enough toaccommodate said amount of time; said processor operating at a thirdtime related to said durations of time, to automatically determining anew image with a new gobo shape based on said information indicative ofa gobo that is changing over time and using the new gobo shape todisplay a new colored light gobo shape at said third time.
 2. The systemas in claim 1 wherein said shape is a stencil shape, and the color isfor light that is within the stencil shape.
 3. The system as in claim 1wherein said gobo that is changing over time includes informationindicative of a gobo shape that is rotating.
 4. The system as in claim 1wherein said gobo that is changing over time includes informationindicative of a color within a defined shape that is changing over time.5. The system as in claim 1, wherein said processor determining avelocity comprises determining movement of points of the image, anddetermining a time for said movement of points of the image.
 6. Thesystem as in claim 5, wherein said processor determining a velocitycomprises detecting a rate of change of movement of said points.
 7. Thesystem as in claim 1, wherein said processor defines durations of timecomprises determining a number of movements per slice, and using saidvelocity to determine a duration of time wherein said duration of timeis less than 1/1000 of said maximum speed.
 8. The system as in claim 1,wherein said lighting part includes a spatial light modulator.
 9. Thesystem as in claim 8, wherein said lighting part includes a bulb. 10.The system as in claim 1, wherein said processor controls carrying outan image processing effect on the shape representing the gobo, whereinsaid receiving information indicative of a gobo that is changing overtime comprises receiving information indicative of the image processingeffect being carried out over time.
 11. A lighting apparatus whichoutputs light, comprising: a lighting source, which is controllable on apixel-by-pixel basis, and where a color of each pixel is controllableand where said lighting source has a maximum speed at which pixels canbe changed; a computer for determining an image processed image forcontrolling said lighting source to produce an output light, whereinsaid image processed image includes at least one shape which is createdwithin the output light, and said at least one shape changes over time,and wherein said output light includes said at least one shape changingover time, wherein said computer determines a current shape of said atleast one shape, by: a) determining said at least one shape at a firsttime as a first shape and said at least one shape at a second time as asecond shape; b) determining a number of pixels of movement for interimshapes between said first and second shapes; and c) determining avelocity of movement of pixels, and using said velocity to determine aduration of time at which a new shape will be calculated, said durationof time being less than said maximum speed at which pixels can bechanged; and the computer operating at a new time calculated using saidduration of time, for automatically determining a new image with a newshape that is one slice closer to the second shape, and using the newshape, and controlling said lighting source to produce said light withsaid new shape.
 12. The lighting apparatus as in claim 11 wherein saidshape is a stencil shape, and the color is for light that is within thestencil shape.
 13. The lighting apparatus as in claim 11 wherein saidshape that is changing over time includes information indicative of ashape that is rotating.
 14. The lighting apparatus as in claim 11wherein said shape that is changing over time includes informationindicative of a color within a defined shape that is changing over time.15. The lighting apparatus as in claim 11, wherein said lighting sourceincludes a spatial light modulator.
 16. The lighting apparatus as inclaim 15, wherein said lighting source includes a bulb.
 17. The lightingapparatus as in claim 11, wherein said duration of time is at least1/1000 of said maximum speed.
 18. The lighting apparatus as in claim 11,wherein said processor controls carrying out an image processing effecton the shape representing a gobo, wherein said image processed image isindicative of a gobo that is changing over time comprises receivinginformation indicative of the image processing effect being carried outover time.
 19. A lighting device, comprising: a computer determining avelocity of points of a moving shape, said the computer for definingdurations of time, based on said velocity, at which different effects ofthe shape are to be displayed, using the computer for carrying out anoperation to create a colored light shape, and to change the shape beingdisplayed between a first shape image and a second shape image toprovide a new shape image indicative of a current shape representing ashape and color for the current shape; a light source, which iscontrollable on a pixel-by-pixel basis, and where a color of each pixelis controllable; the computer using the new shape image indicative ofthe shape to control said light source to create said colored lightshape, and at a time related to said durations of time, using thecomputer for automatically determining the second new shape image thatis one slice closer to the second shape, and using the second new shapeimage to create a new colored light shape as said colored light shape.20. A lighting device as in claim 19, where said lighting source has amaximum speed at which pixels can be changed, and where said duration oftime being less than said maximum speed at which pixels can be changed.21. A lighting device as in claim 20, wherein said duration of time isat least 1/1000 of said maximum speed at which said pixels can bechanged.
 22. A lighting device as in claim 20 wherein said shape is astencil shape, and the color is for light that is within the stencilshape.
 23. A lighting device as in claim 19 wherein said moving shapealso has a changing color.
 24. The lighting device as in claim 19,wherein said light source includes a spatial light modulator.
 25. Thelighting device as in claim 24, wherein said light source includes abulb.
 26. The lighting device as in claim 19, wherein said processorcontrols carrying out an image processing effect on a shape representinga gobo, wherein said computer obtains information indicative of a gobothat is changing over time.
 27. A method, comprising: using a computerfor determining a shape for creating a light beam, wherein a shape of anouter edge of said light beam is set by said shape, by: a) determining afirst shape image and a second shape image; b) determining a number ofpixels of movement for plural interim shapes between said first shapeimage and said second shape image; and c) determining a velocity ofmovement of pixels, and using said velocity to determine a duration oftime at which a new shape image will be calculated; and at a new timecalculated using said duration of time, using the computer forautomatically determining a new shape image that is one duration closerto the second shape image, and using the new shape image to project adifferent shape of light; and creating an output light based on saidshape image and said new shape image which change at different times.28. The method as in claim 27 wherein said shape image also has achanging color which changes over time.
 29. The method as in claim 27,wherein said creating an output light uses a spatial light modulator.30. The method as in claim 29, wherein said creating a light beam usesan xenon or metal halide bulb.
 31. The method as in claim 27, where saidcreating a light beam uses a device that has maximum speed at whichpixels can be changed, and where said duration of time being less thansaid maximum speed at which pixels can be changed.
 32. The method as inclaim 31, wherein said duration of time is at least 1/1000 of saidmaximum speed at which said pixels can be changed.